Last week, the Chinese video game” Black Myth: Wukong” garnered 2.3 million concurrent people in two weeks and sold 4.5 million files, ranking second among all sports possibly featured on Steam, the global video game system.
The development of such a match, developed by the Tencent-backed business GameScience over the past seven years, is not a fluke. Whether the show’s creators had any intentions or not, the show’s widespread acceptance represents a significant change in China’s society and relationship with the outside.
China is shifting from a emphasis on manufacturing to pleasure, from connecting with the earth through tangible goods to drawing in a worldwide audience with vivid, intangible tales.
Hollywood, Disney, and Pixar have been the go-to leisure for billions of people around the world for decades, and they’re probably going to be that way for a very long time.
Through these films, customers from nations that speak a variety of cultures have absorbed American aesthetics and storytelling techniques.
The funny, the harsh, the romance and the thrilling—all that define remarkable stories produced in the US—have shaped the panel culture of many across the world.
The supremacy of US screen culture may be overstated, even though criticisms of some of the toxic content have not stopped.
Storytelling that speaks
But the success of” Black Myth: Wukong” reveals a change in this dynamic. How could the 16th-century tale of a Monkey King been so powerful?
It is undoubtedly not because it is Foreign, but because people of all cultures can relate to the topics that are revealed in the myth.
The world is currently in a dangerous state, with war, economic volatility, exacerbating climate problems and growing inequality. The priest and his followers ‘ quest for Buddhist texts from India is the center of the story of Wukong, which is more important than previously.
In the same way that the writer’s search to the Pure Land to obtain Buddhist scriptures is slowed down by monsters, foes, and adversaries with several powers, the sport follows the traditional Chinese novel” Journey to the West.”
Yet the courage, wisdom, justice and teamwork of the group will eventually overcome the difficulties. The very strength the world longs for is this internal cohesion against formidable external forces.
The game’s themes—curbing uninhibited desires, battling powerful heavenly gods, fighting against unfair treatment—resonate with modern players.
Making the story more than just a game, these themes reflect what society needs at the moment, such as economic inequality, environmental degradation, and exploitation by powerful industries.
As reports link the game’s success to China’s soft power, it’s crucial to understand the content strategies behind these entertainment successes. Soft power builds on media.
Without compelling content or the right platform, it does n’t gain traction. What makes content appealing? Its content demonstrates a thorough understanding of oneself and an in-depth understanding of the audience.
China appears to have finally grasped the art of producing global-quality content. Developers in the country’s cultural industry have come to the realization that their secret toolkit lies within their own traditional culture by reexamining its own cultural heritage and acknowledging its beauty and value.
State-led cultural confidence
State policy also reflects this emphasis on traditional Chinese culture. The 14th Five-Year Plan of the nation reiterated the importance of fostering cultural confidence, with the aim of significantly strengthening China’s cultural soft power by 2035.
This policy has influenced university research, K-12 education, public knowledge, and social media platforms, among others.
Instead of the castles and cathedrals prevalent in Western video games, Wukong integrates Chinese temples, pagodas and pavilions, all based on centuries-old heritage sites, particularly in Shanxi, a place famous for ancient wooden architecture.
Numerous scenes take place in beautiful, photorealistic settings, showing misty mountains, lush forests, Buddhist sculptures, crystal-clear waters, and old pines. These landscapes, rooted in Chinese aesthetics of paintings and architecture, build atmospheric and immersive scenes in the game.
Players ‘ experiences with traditional video game battles are elevated to a cultural appreciation thanks to the poetic quality.
Other Chinese animations and games have also had a lot of international success. Li Bai, poet from the Tang dynasty, is the subject of the animated film” Chang ‘ An.”
Another animated movie from the same company,” The White Snake,” is based on the well-known tale of a romance between a human and a snake spirit who transforms into a stunning woman.
Mobile games like” Genshin Impact” and” Honkai: Star Rail“, which have garnered millions of fans in app stores, have extensively integrated traditional architecture, art, poetry, costume and even opera into the story and scenes of the games.
The development of multimedia technologies in China, in addition to increased government support and funding, has effectively promoted the success of these cultural products. To engage audiences more, China’s museums and cultural heritage sites are using the metaverse, AI, and VR to increase their engagement.
Dunhuang Caves , Museum has launched successful e-museum and VR programs. Digital scans and a VR database have been developed in Sichuan Province for more than 83 structures dating back to the 14th to the 17th centuries.
Indeed,” soft power” still hinges on hard technologies. These well-known video games are a reflection of China’s transition and commitment to investing time and money into developing technologies that can create memorable and global stories because the game industry is infused with high-tech elements, from 3D scans and high-end CPUs to high-resolution imaging.
This emphasis on futuristic science and technology aligns with the recent rise of China’s science fiction on the global stage, from Liu Cixin’s” The Three-Body Problem”, which has been adapted into a Netflix series, to Hao Jingfang’s interstellar stories” Jumpnauts”  , and AI scientist and entrepreneur Kai-Fu Lee’s co-authored book” AI 2041” with sci-fi writer Chen Qiufan.
The issue of equity in growth
Wukong’s success, while remarkable, also raises questions about the distribution of its financial benefits.
Production costs over US$ 50 million, and the majority of the revenue will likely go to the tech giants and investors who are supporting the game developers, as opposed to the typical Chinese working class or the cultural conservators whose heritage the game references.
Game developers should allocate some funds to support small and medium-sized cultural companies, particularly those that are promoting and protecting traditional arts and crafts.
Additionally, developers should engage with community-based projects that directly benefit local artisans, educators, and cultural institutions. For instance, profits could be used to fund initiatives promoting cultural preservation, such as funding rural arts education and heritage preservation.
Additionally, it is crucial to create a more welcoming and collaborative environment within the gaming and cultural industries. The industry can diversify its output and ensure that a wider range of voices and talents are represented by opening up space for smaller studios and independent creators to collaborate with larger companies.
For China or any other nation to truly increase their soft power in the long run, it must cultivate an environment that encourages both the most technologically advanced and visually stunning stories and the most modest displays of cultural heritage.
Historical heritage will truly shine when the focus shifts from the spectacle to the richness of culture.
At Stanford University, Gerui Wang teaches about AI, the cultural industry, with a particular emphasis on technologies and East Asian culture.